


just a quick kiss

by charjace



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29606538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charjace/pseuds/charjace
Summary: what happens when reggie suddenly cosied up to luke, and luke found it unlocked something in him
Relationships: Luke Patterson/Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 112





	just a quick kiss

**Author's Note:**

> something done in a spur of the moment, enjoy. not proof read. 
> 
> proof reading? idk her

Yesterday, at the local Library Reggie had suddenly held his hand and moved himself  _ impossibly  _ close to him without warning. Now, Luke is never one to shy away from physical contact. It’s something that both are extremely comfortable with, but they try not to do so much in public. They knew how the people were, and how they could perceive them – the names they would call them to try and hurt them. So, it was also  _ weird _ when Luke picked out a book for them to read, that Reggie pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.  _ Those _ were definitely reserved for times when they were more private times, where they’re comforting each other. So, to say Luke is confused over the whole ideal is an understatement especially when after ten minutes, he pulled away slightly, hand removing itself from his own and their usual distance was between them as they sat on the couch reading the book together.

Since then, Reggie has acted as if  _ nothing _ happened and Luke doesn’t know why he suddenly wants Reggie to  _ be _ that close to him again, that maybe next time that Reggie stays there. 

“Earth to Luke,” Alex says as he threw his drumstick at Luke, effectively pulling him out of his thoughts. Scowling a little, Luke bends down to pick up the drumstick and hands it back to his friend. “Dude, what’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing,” Luke replies with a small shrug, and he sees Alex raise an eyebrow slightly at him, clearly not believing his words.

Alex looked like he was about to say something, when Reggie came into the studio looking a little out of breath before storming towards Luke. Reggie’s hands where resting on Luke’s shoulders and he looked a little  desperate , “Luke ca-”

Bobby’s voice carried into the studio, as if he was talking purposefully loudly and then the next thing he knew, Reggie’s lips were on his. It took him a few seconds, but he found himself kissing back. It was a short kiss, and when Reggie pulls away, he can see a light pink dusting his cheeks and he is sure he has his own. He finds himself wanting to follow the kiss – to do it again. Luke was dumbstruck to say the least, he felt Alex poke his side with his drumstick and Luke manages to look at his friend who was asking a silent question, one that Luke has  _ no answer _ to if he’s honest.

A huff brought Luke’s attention towards the studio doors where a wide-eyed Bobby stood and a brunette female stood, her arms crossed against her chest. “You’re really playing this act?” The female asks, her eyes looking right at Reggie who looked like he wanted to shrink in on himself, but he held himself up as moved one of his hands down Luke’s arm, before intertwining their fingers together.

Turning to face the girl, Reggie gives a smile, “What act?” A light tilt of his head, feigning innocence. Luke knew what it looked like when Reggie was truly confused, this wasn’t it. He  _ was _ putting up some kind of act, but what it was, Luke wasn’t sure.

Scoffing, the girl storms out and after a few moments, Reggie’s hand leaves his and Luke yearns for it back in his. The comfort, the rough finger tips – just the feeling of Reggie’s hand in his again. Reggie doesn’t say anything as he goes to pick up his bass and all his friends just stare at him. “ So. .. we starting with  _ Now or Never _ or  _ In Your Starlight _ today?” Reggie asks, as if what had just happened  _ didn’t _ as if what happened was  _ normal _ between them.

It’s been nearly over a week, and Reggie hasn’t gotten that close again, nor has he told anyone what that had been about. Alex was waiting by his locker, bag slung over his shoulder as he gives Luke a short nod. A silent conversation between them happening as Luke put all the things he needed into his locker, and keeping what he needed for homework in his bag before following Alex out to his car. It was silent in the car between them, the only sound the sound of the radio as Alex drove Luke home.

Outside of Luke’s house, Alex places a hand on Luke’s shoulder grabbing his attention, “Dude, what happened last practice?”

“I don’t know Alex. Reggie hasn’t told me anything and is acting like for two days in a  _ row _ he didn’t act lovely  dovey towards me,” Luke answers honestly.

“ _ Two days _ ?”

“Yeah. Remember how me and Reg went to the Library because you had a family commitment and Bobby had a date?” Alex nods his head, and Luke continues, “Well, I don’t know why, but he suddenly held my hand like he did in the studio and got  _ really _ close. Like  _ real _ close, he even kissed my cheek _ in public _ Al.”

Sighing Alex frowned a little, and Luke doesn’t know if he wants to open up about how he  _ wished _ it meant something more. Or how he wants to have Reggie’s lips against his again. So, he doesn’t bring it up and climbs out of Alex’s car saying a goodbye before going to his room. He buries his head in his hands, trying to keep his thoughts in check but the keep wondering to Reggie. Since when did he  _ feel _ like this towards Reggie, groaning, knowing he won’t be able to focus on his homework – he grabs out his song book and scribbles down all his thoughts that were floating in his head. 

He finishes writing parts of a few new songs, when his mother calls him for dinner. After dinner, he sits at his desk doing his homework. The many thoughts of Reggie now on paper, making his head clearer for him to focus on his school work. His desk lamp was on, his clock reading  _ 9:00 PM _ telling him he should probably close his books and go to sleep, he’s got band practice tomorrow and he likes being well rested for it. 

Stripping himself of his shirt, he’s about to do the same with his pants when there was a knock at his window, frowning he turns to see a silhouette at his window. Walking closer, he saw it was Reggie and he looked scared, which prompted him to move quicker. Opening up his window, he notices that his friend held not  _ one _ but two bags over his shoulder, which he passes to Luke who takes them before helping his friend into his room. After he closed his window, Luke was engulfed in a hug, which he immediately returned. Holding his friend more tightly when he heard soft whimpers falling from his friend’s lips.

A soft knock on his door, alerted him to his mother slowly opening his door. Her eyes falling upon the boy in her son’s arms, and a saddened look fell over her face. She looks towards her son, and Luke doesn’t have an answer. He doesn’t seem to have a lot of them lately, but he does silent convey for her to leave, and she nods her head. They’ll end up talking about it tomorrow for sure, he knows it.

After a few moments, Reggie pulls away wiping at his eyes, “I-I’m sorry. Uh... Can I stay the night please?” 

“Of course,” Luke answers, and when he takes in Reggie’s  face, he notices in the dim light his desk lamp gave that there was a bruise forming on Reggie’s cheek. “What happened?”

“My parents kicked me out,” Reggie replies before walking over to where one of his bags laid. Luke watches as his friend opens it open and pulls out a pair of pyjama pants. “I’ll go to the studio tomorrow. I just... couldn’t tonight. It’s too far and my parents, they slashed my tires.”

Luke balled his fists;  _ how _ could his parents do such a thing – why would they? Even Alex’s parents didn’t have the balls to kick out Alex. Instead, they’re just  _ cold _ towards their son and would just wait until he turned eighteen. Reggie changed into his sleepwear, and Luke decided he would ask later if Reggie wasn’t willing to let up any more information. Soon the two were laying on Luke’s bed, with Reggie curled into Luke’s side.

Two days later, and Reggie hasn’t given up any more information about why his parents kicked him out, and he tells them that the bruise on his cheek was from when he hit himself with his history book. Bobby and Alex don’t believe it, and Luke sure as hell doesn’t. After school, they all decided to go for pizza and to study together. They were all gathered around a table, books sprawled out and the pizza in the middle of the table, Luke was about to get up and order another round of drinks for them when he felt Reggie gently rest his head on Luke’s shoulder. He could feel a blush rise in his cheeks, and Alex raised an eyebrow slightly at them and in return Luke gave a light shrug.

Reggie distractedly reached for a slice of pizza, and Luke wanted to ask about this casual affection Reggie displays on and off, the question was on the tip of his tongue but his moment was stolen when the girl from practice a week ago stalks up to them. She was glaring at him, and Luke doesn’t know what he  _ did _ , he’s never spoken to his girl in his life so why is she glaring at him like that for. She slams her hands on the table, and Reggie flinches, moving himself closer to Luke and Luke instinctively puts his arm around Reggie to hold him.

“ _ This _ ,” She points towards Reggie and Luke, “isn’t what was supposed to  _ happen _ . You were supposed to end it. Your parents kicked you  _ out _ for crying out loud, and you  _ still _ ...”

Luke feels Reggie shrink in closer to him, and Luke ended up glaring at the girl, Alex and Bobby doing the same. “Who the  _ fuck _ are you?” Alex asks the question that was on his  tongue too.

“I’m the one who should be dating Reggie, not this  _ Queer fucker _ ... then again, I’m not surprised you’re all a bunch of queers. Look at you,” She says aiming the words towards Alex, venom in her voice.

“What did you say,” Bobby growls out, slamming his own fist against the table – wincing when he saw Reggie flinch at his actions. A server walks over to them quickly, asking them what was wrong. Alex as politely as he can, tells the server that they were just studying when this girl started harassing them for no reason.

The server, politely asks the girl to leave and she does so with a huff, and the server apologies but they tell them that they hadn’t need too. Reggie ends up quietly eating his pizza, not doing his homework, still curled into Luke’s side.

They’re all piled into Luke’s room, Reggie was laying with his head in Luke’s lap on the bed, while Bobby was sitting in Luke’s chair, and Alex was on the edge of the bed. Luke started to absently run his fingers through Reggie’s hair, smiling a little to himself when he feels his friend relax a little more. 

“Reggie, who was she?” Alex asks the question that was on all of their minds. 

“She lives down the road from my parents, goes to our school. She, like, kind of likes me, like  _ a lot _ . She had asked me out, I told her no. Then, it kept happening for like two months before I told her I was already dating someone. Then she started pestering me about who I was dating. She was starting to scare me, so I kept it vague – then, the other weekend, I... I saw her in the Library and, it was stupid but I pretended that Luke was who I was dating. I’m sorry, you were just  _ there _ , and I didn’t know how to ask. Then, she must have followed me or something to practice after trying to get information about Luke, because I saw her following when I got close to the studio. I just... then, desperate, I kissed Luke hoping she’d see and leave me alone.

“Clearly, I was wrong, she... she told my parents, and they kicked me out. They didn’t want their only living son to be a  _ queer _ .” Reggie rambles on, and Luke’s heart sinks for many reasons. He was  _ just there _ when the girl happened, so that meant if it was Alex or Bobby, it’d probably be the same – and why does that  _ hurt _ his heart. 

“Oh Reg,” Alex says, reaching a hand out to give his friend’s shoulder a small squeeze.

“I’m sorry Luke,” Reggie mumbles, “I shouldn’t have done that to you.”

It went quiet between them, but it was broken by Bobby saying, “ Oooo looks like Lukey here as a crush,” Luke’s head snaps towards Bobby who had his songbook in his hands, and his eyes went wide slightly. Alex quickly scrambled off the bed to peer over their rhythm guitarist’s shoulder.

Luke  _ barely _ knows how he feels towards Reggie, especially know that all of the things that Reggie had done meant nothing, and it was just a way to get rid of a girl he wasn’t interested in. It shouldn’t hurt this much, but it does. Would it have hurt like this had he known from the start? Luke doesn’t know.

“ _ Lips so soft, one taste and I’m gone. I want another taste, I’m begging _ .” Bobby reads out, a teasing smile upon his lips as he looks up at Luke. A  mischievous glint in his eye.

“ _ I know you may not believe it so, I know your par-” _ Alex falters, and Luke feels his heart stop because he can see it. He can see Alex’s realisation as to who the lyrics scribbled on the page were about,  confirmed when he watches Alex’s eyes dart quickly to the boy in his lap.

A month goes by, and Reggie no longer drapes himself over Luke. No sudden hand holding, the closest they get now is when they share a mic when practicing or performing one of their gigs. Luke had a fight with his mother, she was growing worried for him – she wanted him to go to college, find a ‘stable’ career. He had stormed to his room before climbing out the window, he’d sneak back in before she would come in to wake him up. Opening up the studio doors, he expects to see Reggie – but what he doesn’t expect to see is him on the couch with someone shirtless with only their bra on,  on his lap in a heavy make out session.

Feeling his heart sink at the sight, he slams the door shut which causes the pair to jump apart, “Luke!” Reggie’s voice squeaks out, and Luke can see Reggie’s face flushing a deep red, and Reggie’s make out partner reached for their shirt, a light coating of pink dusting their cheeks as they put it back on. “I didn’t know you were coming around.”

“I had a fight with my mother, I couldn’t stand to be there anymore – at least not tonight. I'm going back in the morning,” Luke tells him, taking a seat in the chair. Not caring that he interrupted their make out session, and  _ okay _ so it may be a little bit of jealousy shining through because that should  _ be him _ with Reggie’s lips on his, with Reggie’s hands wondering over his body – but it wasn’t, and Luke wishes he could stop thinking that.

It went quiet, and Reggie’s make out partner decided they wanted to leave, so they made their exit but not before whispering something in his ear. Now, it was just Luke and Reggie alone. “Need a hug?” Reggie asks after a few moments of silence, and feeling complied, Luke nods his head before moving to sit next to Reggie, wrapping his arms around his friend who gladly returned the embrace.

“I love you,” Luke tells Reggie, words lightly muffled by the bassist’s neck – lips moving slightly against his friend’s skin as he did so. They’ve told each other this a million times over, yet – why did his words feel so heavy, and why did Luke’s heart feel like it was stabbed when Reggie replied with,

“I love you too bud.”

“Are you going to tell him?” The question was accompanied by his songbook being slapped upside his head, before being thrown down in front of him. Alex stood in front of him, arms crossed against his chest, and a raised eyebrow.

“Nothing to tell,” Luke retorts, looking down to the guitar in his lap. He can hear Alex scoff, and can  practically hear the eye roll.

“You’ve written  _ love songs _ for crying out loud Luke! You don’t write love songs,” Alex comments, and it’s true. Luke doesn’t really do  _ love _ songs, mainly because he hasn’t experienced it. All their songs are about their goals, about living their lives as the young teenagers they are and about their friendship.

“Well, it doesn’t matter now does it,” Luke shrugs his shoulders, “Reggie won’t like me that way, we both know it. He  _ practically _ admitted it. I was nothing but the person who was  _ there _ , so it was  _ nothing _ to him.”

“But it meant something to  _ you _ ,” 

Luke lets out a frustrated groan, throwing his head back on the couch behind him, “Apparently so,” Luke retorts with a light scoff of his own and he can feel tears filling his eyes. “I don’t know how to deal with this, this  _ rejection _ that I know is there. I don’t want us to lose our friendship over my stupid god dam feelings.”

“Start with being honest with him, then work it out from there,” Alex tells him before leaving the studio. 

A sigh turning into a sob broke from his throat, and he placed his guitar to the side before pulling his legs into his chest. Resting his head on his knees as he cried, he didn’t hear the footsteps that lead up to someone wrapping their arms around him. It was  _ Reggie _ , Luke knew that smell, knew that cologne. Needing the comfort, Luke leans into the embrace and slowly, Reggie’s words were coming to his ears through his sobs. “I’m sorry. I’m  soo sorry. I’m sorry, so fucking sorry. I’m sorry Luke. I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry.”

Once he felt calm enough, Luke pulled away from the embrace, turning his head on his knees to look at Reggie who was now fiddling with the rings on his fingers. Sniffling, Luke asks in a quiet voice, “Why are you saying sorry?”

“Because I hurt you!” Reggie replies as if it was the most obvious answer, “I... I never meant to hurt  you Luke. I’m so god dam fucking sorry. You mean the world to me, and hurting you... It kills me.”

“W-Who said you hurt me?” Luke asks.

“ _ You _ did. Luke... I heard everything; I was up in the loft,” Reggie answers, and Luke remembers of course Reggie had been up there when he talked about his feelings. “I’m sorry I made you cry.”

“It’s my fault, for catching stupid feelings,” Luke tries to laugh it off, but he sees Reggie’s lips frown as the other reaches out to push back some of Luke’s hair that had fallen in his face. Feeling his heart pick up, Luke just stares at Reggie.

“Are they stupid if they’re returned?”

“What?” Luke asks, his brow frowning as he did, he couldn’t have heard right. Is Reggie  implying what he’s implying  _ or _ is Luke hopefully wishing.

“I would like for the next time we kiss, that it  _ means _ something,” Reggie’s reply filled with both shyness and confidence all at the same time, and Luke loses all his impulse control – which, honestly wasn’t much to begin with by surging forward, falling  slightly in Reggie’s lap as he did so.

Arms wrapping around Reggie’s neck, hand going into his hair before he leant in to press his lips to Reggie’s. Smiling into the kiss when he feels Reggie’s lips pressing back, and his arms snaking around Luke’s waist, pulling him closer in the process. Lips move against each other, and Luke ends up letting out a little laugh into the kiss before pulling away – only leaving a small gap between his and Reggie’s lips. Breath mingling together, and Luke just wants to surge forward and kiss him again, so that is what he does because he can. 

They break apart when there is the loud sound of drumsticks hitting the cymbals on Alex’s drums, causing the pair to see Alex and Bobby looking at them, with what looked like a mixture of fondness and irritation on their faces. So, sheepishly, the pair got off the couch mumbling  sorry’s as they grabbed their instruments before just diving right into practice. It had turned out, Bobby and Alex had been trying to get Luke and Reggie’s attention for a few minutes before they used the drums to break them apart, but neither Luke nor Reggie felt too  embarrassed about it.


End file.
